


Future Style

by TwilightsHerald



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Ranma 1/2
Genre: Drama & Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28304724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightsHerald/pseuds/TwilightsHerald
Summary: As the leaves begin to turn, Ranma's journey with the Muses to his Mastery exam is promising to be anything but easy. With relationships, magic, music, and college to look forward to, life has a way of keeping you moving whether you want to or not. For Ranma and Honoka, it's time to set aside the past and look for a future to believe in. (Sequel to Make or Break.)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Future Style

**Author's Note:**

> _A/N: Well, that took...awhile. Here, at last, is a sequel to my last big project, "Make or Break." I've done my best here to make this at least minimally comprehensible to someone who hasn't read that thing, but it's 250k words. There's a lot that's happened, and frankly it's a little hard to summarize. The best I can do in the time available: Ranma has been working with Mu's for about six months, and transferred schools before the month long summer break. He did this because Happousai decided, for reasons he hasn't revealed, that it's time to start encouraging Ranma to begin to teach. In that time, Mu's has been working towards their original goal, but Ranma's fiance squad, 'encouraged' by Nabiki, started their own School Idol group that spends more time on sabotage and sensationalist yellow journalism than putting together a good show. Some of that sabotage has resulted in the Muses gaining some magic (and Nozomi already had magical fortune telling) and also a few relationships between them. With the end of summer vacation, the next phase of the competition to secure an invitation to the greatest gathering of School Idols ever concieved begins._

Saotome Ranma found himself looking forward to the start of school. If you'd told him that this would be the case six months before he would have laughed in your face. Now, instead of the guest room at the Tendo Dojo, he was staying in a smaller, but still roomy, bedroom with a double bed, a dresser that was mostly empty, and a desk at which he had set up his laptop for school. The closet was filled with copies of his variant school uniform, courtesy of one of his friends - Minami Kotori.

It was still early in the morning, so rather than put on his uniform for the day he simply grabbed one off the rack and stuffed it into his book bag along with the books he would need. A simple application of the Hidden Weapons techniques to the bag allowed it to carry that much without too much risk of wrinkling. He filled up three water bottles as well, putting two in loops outside the bag and the third into his pocket.

He stepped out into the hallway of the Nishikino residence, and nearly ran into Maki coming out of her room and pulling on a simple robe over full pajamas. "Need the bath?" the redhead asked.

Ranma shook his head. "Headed over to the Sonodas for my morning workout. I'll borrow theirs."

"Right. Morning, then." Yawning, Maki half walked, half staggered into the bathing room. Before Ranma had gotten all the way down the hall, Maki stuck her head back out. "Remind Umi I need her to send over the latest lyrics before school."

"Will do," Ranma replied. He headed downstairs, opened the fridge and noted Kasumi had already set up breakfast for him. While it was mostly traditional, she wasn't in the habit of getting up early or staying up late anymore so the miso soup hadn't been started. She had made do with a triple helping of fish and extra rice, which Ranma quickly ate.

He was just standing up when Tendo Kasumi stepped into the kitchen, rubbing the salt from her eyes. Ranma eyed her. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Kasumi yawned. "I was studying late last night again."

Ranma shrugged. "All those textbooks you read? I'm sure you'll do fine."

Kasumi chuckled softly. "Not all of us are blessed with your photographic memory, I'm afraid." Ranma was about to protest - sure, he was good but he wasn't _that_ good as his grades would attest - but Kasumi waved it off. "I'll send Maki with your lunch."

* * *

Kousaka Honoka sighed as her phone rang, portending yet another message. The sun wasn't even up yet. She briefly considered muting the sender, but no. This was her own fault for not being more firm with the middle school girl. A glance at the time told her it was too late to get back to sleep, so she got up and stretched out thoroughly for several minutes before checking on Chika's email. _Still grounded for that stunt with the concert, and she's sneaking time online before her family's awake._

Honoka thought about telling Chika's family so the messages would stop, but something about that seemed unfair. "Nico probably knows how to keep the phone from beeping before I'm awake," she muttered, heading downstairs to breakfast. Toast and an egg later and she was out the front door, ready to meet one of her best friends, Minami Kotori. "Morning," she said. "First round closes out today, right?"

"The National round, yes," Kotori said. She tried to remember. "Top fifty, right?" Honoka immediately pulled out her phone. "They locked the top seventy-five last night at midnight and hid the list. They'll announce the results after school."

"First day of classes and they're springing this on us," Honoka groaned. "Why couldn't they have done it last night?"

Kotori didn't answer, and they walked towards school. After a bit, Kotori finally changed the subject. "It's been awhile since we were able to just walk to school like this. I just wish Umi could come too."

Honoka shook her head. "Kotori, I know, but she absolutely needs this training with Ranma and her father…"

* * *

Sonoda Umi did not, in fact, resent in the slightest that she had to get up before dawn and often wasn't in bed until almost midnight these days. The training was important. At the moment, she was surrounded by heavy bags as she meditated, channeling _ki_ through her body. It was a warm feeling, but doing it for any time still left her completely exhausted, like working out a completely parallel set of muscles she hadn't known were there until now.

"Begin," her father called out. Umi stood up slowly and began the kata, the goal today being to strike each bag without losing her focus until they were all in motion. That exercises like this weren't usually done with 45 kilogram bags, but something considerably lighter, was beside the point. Umi launched her first punch.

In the same time, Ranma had hit four and was having to dodge the first as it swung down from the ceiling. Umi's jaw dropped open - sure, it was far from the most impressive thing she'd seen Ranma do, but these casual demonstrations of superhuman ability weren't everyday happenings anymore. Umi was distracted just long enough, in fact, that her own bag clipped her in the back of the head and sent her tumbling to the ground. Neither Ranma nor her father came over to help. She stood up and started again. This time she got to the third hit before her focus failed her, and the fourth bag only went a centimeter or two instead of being sent swinging like it was supposed to be. Umi tried to figure out how to adjust, stepping around the first bag but taking the second and third in rapid succession.

Of course, by now Ranma was done, and smirking at her. "Giving up?"

"Not on your life," Umi said. "Could do it if music's playing."

Ranma looked to Sonoda-sensei for permission to speak. The man nodded. "What do you do if you get in a fight and you've got no juice on your phone, or your headphones? What if someone figures out your trick and plays a 3/4 time song over the 4/4 you're using? Or just pulls your headphones off?"

"I know, I know." Umi stood up. "That's the point, right? So I don't get dependent on tricks?"

"If you know that…" Her father said. "Why bring it up?"

Umi sighed. "Frustration, maybe? The trick worked fine for Kotori."

Ranma shook his head. "Kotori's not a martial artist. Frankly, I'm sorta terrified it worked as good as it did. Five minutes later and we'd have had all the big speakers packed up. Then she wouldn't have been able to hear it no matter what we did."

Sonoda nodded. "Clever tricks that don't work, aren't. It was an admirable effort to keep your friend safe long enough to respond to the threat, but for war it is inadequate. And we train for war."

Umi sighed. "Yes, Father." She stood up and made sure the bags were still. "Again."

* * *

Ayase Eri sighed. "Who would have thought that _leaving_ a job would require so much paperwork?" She and her best friend turned girlfriend, Toujou Nozomi, were sitting in the Student Council room going through the stacks of paperwork generated by anything where money was involved.

As was the case in most Japanese schools, the Council controlled the club budgets. Unlike most schools and against all odds, Otonokizaka was running at a profit, mostly thanks to the School Idol Club. Thankfully, both Honoka and the club's nominal leader, Nico had agreed to let her slash the club's effective budget to channel that money to others that weren't doing as well.

Nozomi chuckled. "Were you planning to go into politics? Be glad we have these kinds of problems. It's not going to happen again."

"What do you think we should do, then?" Eri asked. "I know we haven't saved the school yet, but if the contest works out we'll need a plan going forward." The previous semester, that had been Eri's biggest worry. Well, truthfully it was again at the moment.

Nozomi thought. "Last semester sure was eventful," she joked, echoing Eri's thoughts. Eri gave her a _look_. "No future-reading, promise. We're girlfriends, I just know you that well." She sighed. "Not that it wasn't obvious. We've only got two months left to boost attendance. One class for the first years, and three for the second." She sighed, although Eri already knew that it was worth emphasizing. "How are we still open at all?"

"Massive trust fund," Eri said. "I got a look. Closing the school would put enough money in my college fund to live like a princess for four years, at least." Nozomi's eyes waggled. "...yes, you can come too."

Nozomi giggled. "Thank you, Lover." Eri blushed. "How do you get money from that deal?"

Eri shrugged. "My family made a huge contribution to the fund. A lot of them, actually. If the school goes defunct, whatever's left over gets paid back out. Some of the contributions were in my name, so they come straight to my college fund. That was ten years ago, before it really looked like this might happen." Nozomi suddenly adopted a look that was all too familiar. "Wipe that smirk off your face." Nozomi did not, and in fact her smirk took on a distinctly shark-like cast, with a flash of canine teeth. "Seriously, you're creeping me out. And no, I'm _not_ going Tendo on you. Not that I won't take the money if everything doesn't work out."

"Of course not." Nozomi said. "You'd have to be an idiot not to, if the ship really is _that_ sunk. All the same, maybe don't mention this to the others."

Eri nodded. "It's a consolation prize. And one I know not everyone in Mu's gets, never mind the entire school."

Nozomi nodded. "Who does? Do you know?"

"That'd be telling. And probably illegal telling at that." Eri said. "Anyway, we're getting off track."

Nozomi nodded. "Well, I know what's _obvious._ School Idols are huge, it doesn't look like that's slowing down, and it's how the school's going to get famous enough to attract the students for next year we need to get out of this."

Eri said "So we should go all in…"

"Wrong." Nozomi said. "Remember, UTX isn't far away. They're _the_ school for anything related to singing, dancing, and basically everything that goes into a good idol show." Nozomi tapped her pen against the sheet of paper in front of her. "On the other hand, we've got things they don't."

Eri nodded. "You mean the dojo and the archery range?'

Nozomi nodded. "And everything else athletic. If we upgrade that, we can expand into other types of performance. Gymnastics and stuff. And then that feeds back into the School Idol club."

Eri nodded. "...sure, as a backup plan. So, request that we get mostly new athletic equipment if the school stays open."

"Unless the new Student Council decides differently," Nozomi said.

Eri blinked. "...right, this entire conversation is pointless. We're going to be too busy focusing on college exams to worry about it for much longer." Nozomi smirked. "C'mon, we've got to get this done before practice. No more slacking off."

* * *

Despite her promises to the group, and to herself, Hoshizora Rin wasn't feeling much better about matters. Her involvement with Mu's had, at first, been to encourage her best friend Hanayo to be more assertive and outgoing. This had culminated in quiet, shy Koizumi Hanayo doing a performance for Ranma's raging psychopath of a mother and probably nearly stabbed to death while singing in a private studio on Maki's property or something.

And since then it _hadn't stopped._ Hanayo had always been somewhat prone to obsessive tendencies. Anyone who had watched her idol hobby for years could have seen that - her collection wasn't quite as large as Nico's, but that was mostly down to Hanayo also having a sweet tooth. And a white rice tooth. The point was, it wasn't for lack of trying, just lack of budgeting skills.

But over the last two days of summer vacation, things had taken a new and entirely too strange turn. Honoka had advised Hanayo not to sell the idol collection, and had persuaded Maki to loan her the use of a credit card for a special streaming service for old movies. This had resulted in an overnight marathon where Hanayo sat enraptured in front of the TV, exploring the world of fictional Kung-Fu movies. That these movies now bore a hideous resemblance to their reality was not lost on Rin.

Nor was the fact that Hanayo had reached the roof where Mu's, the Otonokizaka School Idol Research Club, practiced before everyone else. While she wasn't, thankfully, wearing Ranma's ugly 'variant uniform', she was wearing a pair of dark, loose pants and a much shorter workout shirt than normal. Her hair was bound up in a band, and she...had her nose deep in a book that promised to make one a _dan_ in kempo in six months. Hanayo nodded, folded the corner of the page she was reading over, and set it on the ground before beginning to run through the steps of a _kata._

An extremely advanced _kata_ , that two steps in expected a butterfly kick. Hanayo was in much better shape than she had been when she joined Mu's, but this was too much for her. She stumbled, and Rin raced forward to catch her before she fell to the ground. "Nyaah." Rin's tone was much more 'whew' than any sound a regular cat would make.

Hanayo blushed. "Uh...did you see that?"

Rin made another feline noise, this one of exasperation. "Of course I did."

"So did I," said another voice. With her black hair and red eyes, third-year Yazawa Nico was the nominal head of the club, although she had conceded the leadership job to Honoka and Ranma by the simple expedient that she knew they were better at it, taking over as spokesgirl. "And if you intend to have a chance with Ranma, you'd _better_ not let him catch you with that stupid thing."

"Eh?" Both first-years said, surprised.

Nico rolled her eyes. "It's a _scam._ Even I know you can't learn martial arts from a textbook alone." Her eyes narrowed. "At _best_ , he'll laugh at you, but he'd have every right to be insulted."

"But...but…" Hanayo gulped. "Real dojos are expensive."

Rin shrugged. "Guess you'll just have to give up on it, nyaa!" she said, trying to keep her excitement at the prospect hidden and only partially succeeding. Nico actually gave her a hateful glare. Hanayo apparently missed it, though, because she glared at Nico in return.

Nico coughed. "Anyway, you could ask Ranma to start teaching you. You'd have a better chance than Umi would."

Rin shook her head. "Ranma isn't allowed to teach until he's taken that Mastery test thingie, right? He can't even really start until we get into Love Live." _And hopefully by then Hanayo will have move - why am I still thinking like this?_

Nico shrugged. "Maybe a _ki_ using student is off the table, but no offense Hanayo, what's the worst _you_ can do to someone?"

Rin shrugged. "I don't know, she's pretty strong now…."

Hanayo's eyes glanced out across the ward, noting two people jumping across the rooftops with a sigh. "Well, we're going to start soon anyway." she mumbled, heading to her book bag to hide the now-forbidden item.

At the last second, Umi jumped onto Ranma's shoulders and the boy took a huge leap from the next nearest building to land next to Nico, Umi dismounting at the last second and, with a graceful backflip, landing on her feet. Nico peered. "Hey, that's a pretty good shiner you've got, and there's a lump on the back of your head."

Umi groaned. "It'll be gone by lunchtime. I'm already starting to heal up faster."

* * *

After practice, everyone went to the school's showers to get cleaned up and changed, before going to their respective classrooms. Ranma sighed, stopping at a hose for enough water to dump over his head. This had the predictable effect of changing him into a girl - well, predictable for anyone who had visited the cursed valley of Jusendo, and the Jusenkyo training ground there.

Kotori briefly framed Ranma with her fingers like she was planning to take a picture, then gave her a thumbs-up. "Still holding up."

Ranma shook her head. "I will _never_ get the obsession with uniforms." She held up a hand to forestall Umi. "I know, I know, group identity, distinct appearance, and all that. I just don't _get_ it, y'know?"

"Well, at least you don't have to risk going boy in the girls' uniform." Honoka pointed out. Kotori had taken inspiration from some of Ranma's nicer Chinese-inspired outfits and swapped the plain colors for those from the Otonoki uniform. Considering she'd had a day to go from concept to something that would readily identify Ranma as an Otonokizaka student, was easy to move in, and wouldn't be destroyed if she changed form while wearing it, she hadn't done terribly badly.

Not that Kotori wasn't considering revisions for an official variant uniform that would be offered to students next year, if there was one. Being the principal's daughter had advantages.

They got to the classroom in companionable silence, greeting their classmates and taking their seats from before the summer break. Ranma was about to take a power-nap before class started. She no longer dared to sleep through, but those fifteen minutes could make all the difference between merely following the discussion and understanding what was going on. She had just really gotten relaxed when feedback from a bullhorn-style loudspeaker threatened to deafen her.

Umi had it worst, shrieking and covering her ears as she nearly fell out of her desk. She had only recently learned to tap into her _ki_ , and her enhanced senses weren't completely under her control. Honoka gritted her teeth against the pain while she reached out her arms to keep Umi held upright, while Kotori just hunched over in her seat like many of her classmates. Ranma recovered first, and her eyes turned to the window.

Holding the infernal device was a tall man wearing sunglasses. It took Ranma a second to recognize him, as he wasn't wearing the loud Hawaiian shirt and shorts she was used to seeing him in, but the suit of a professional bureaucrat worn by most school principals in Japan, whether they were part of the national education system or not.

He hadn't done anything about the shades, the overdone tan, or the palm tree growing from his head, however. Principal Kuno of Furinkan High School was standing on a workman's crane just outside her classroom, apparently ready to make an announcement. _**"Hey, Keiki, dis ain't you - "**_ Ranma sighed, jumped across the room, and plucked the damn thing out of his hands. "Hey!"

Ranma groaned. "No need to take out the building. Just say it and get goin'."

"Dis ain't you school! I gonna have a word wid de board o' education if'n you don' come with me right dis second!" he said in a thick, nearly-incomprehensible accent.

Kotori stood up. "Sir, did my mothe - the principal give you permission to come onto the grounds?" She glanced at Ranma curiously. "Is he a martial artist?" she asked, a little more quietly.

"Tough as one," Ranma said. "Better let - "

Ranma didn't get a chance to finish. Kotori had walked right up to Principal Kuno, and then proceeded to...well, not so much kick him as forcefully nudge him off the crane with her foot. Then she pulled out her phone and sent a quick text message. The crane had just lowered to the ground to allow the man to climb in and try again when the sounds of sirens started to echo through the schoolyard. "Honestly." Honoka, Umi, and Ranma all stared at her. "What?"

That wasn't quite the end of the problems, as the homeroom teacher chose that moment to come into the room. After the typical morning ritual, role call started...and went smoothly right up until it got to Ranma. "Saotome?" Ranma ignored the woman pointedly.

Umi sighed. "Sensei, I'm sorry about this, but some things happened over the break and...well, the very short of it is that Ranma's not allowed to respond to that name."

"That is ridiculous," the teacher countered. "Saotome!"

Ranma didn't even blink, her eyes suddenly going flat and dead. Umi felt a flicker of something as her fellow martial artist suppressed something, and then the temperature dropped noticeably. _Soul of Ice...and she doesn't even know she's doing it._

Honoka also stood up. "Sensei, _please._ We're working on it, but please stop reminding Ranma of his family."

Kotori added her voice. "Mama knows about it, and it should be all right. She's basically _ronin_ right now, if that's how you want to think of it."

There was an audible sigh. "I'll confirm that later." She took a deep breath. "Miss Ranma?"

The change was immediate and dramatic, to the point that Honoka needed to look in Ranma's eyes to see it wasn't faked. She had...well, basically returned to normal. Not quite properly deferential - Ranma was _never_ that to any mere school teacher - but polite enough not to be outright insulting.

Umi had once wondered about that, but now she understood. It was the attitude of someone with far too much life experience for their age. Ranma might acknowledge that someone had knowledge he didn't, but he would never truly respect a person he considered untested by life.

Umi wondered what it said about Honoka that Ranma clearly respected _her._

* * *

There was a surprise waiting for Mu's in Otonokizaka's School Idol Club Room after school. Kira Tsubasa, the lead of rival school UTX's group A-RISE, was sitting at the head of the table with her feet propped up on it when everyone opened the door. "Hey." While everyone was still shocked, she stood up, put one arm around Honoka and Maki and gave each of them a kiss that pushed the boundaries of appropriate school behavior, much to Maki's mortification.

Nico recovered first. "What are you _doing_ here?"

Tsubasa grinned, pulling a stunned Honoka gently towards a seat and into her lap. "Well, we usually practice later in the day, and really, what's the point of watching the results with Erena and Anju right now? We all know _we_ made it in." She gave Honoka's cheek another kiss. "My girlfriends, on the other hand...well, I've got a good feeling, but there's actual suspense here. _Tension_ , you might say."

Nozomi rolled her eyes. "And you all call _me_ a pervert."

Eri grinned and gently guided Nozomi to a seat away from Tsubasa. "You're both perverts. Happy?"

"As long as I'm _your_ pervert, yes." Nozomi replied,

Rin groaned. "Make out with your girlfriends later, huh?"

Maki, still blushing, took a seat at the room's sole computer, with the display hooked up so everyone could see while sitting at the meeting table. "Yeah, no kidding. That's not what we're here for."

Honoka gave Ranma a quick look, and the latter clapped her hands. "Okay, okay, Rin's right." Everyone took their seats. Maki glared at Hanayo taking a seat next to Ranma, but her expression quickly shifted to a guilty one before anyone noticed. "Maki, get the site up, it's almost time."

The pink ribbon background of the Love Live web site popped up on the screen, followed by a clock counting down the last two minutes of the wait before the winners of the first season of the tournament would be announced. Out of all the schools in Japan, Fifty would be chosen to go to the Love Live Music Festival in Tokyo next spring, during the winter break. Every other school would then be divided into regions to compete for their own spots through the autumn. There was also a lottery for a few lucky schools late to the party to try their luck. The Festival itself had a single grand prize of a million yen and a guaranteed recording contract for a single with nationwide distribution, along with a number of smaller prizes, to the winner of a popular vote.

None of which had anything to do with the reasons either Mu's or A-RISE had entered the contest. Mu's, of course, wanted to drum up popularity for the school to try to keep it open. UTX, on the other hand, was an arts school. They would be embarrassed to _not_ have a group in the running for the top rank. While that was a lot of money, divided up amongst all of the club members for either it would be nice for their college years, but far from a necessity.

Which, Honoka mused, was probably why Tsubasa was so friendly. Maybe a little too friendly, requiring Honoka to gently swat one of her girlfriend's hands. "Seriously, I shouldn't even be doing this much at school."

Tsubasa grinned. "You spent a night with Maki over at a love hotel already. My turn."

Both flushed, Maki especially. "We didn't _do_ anything, we were just hiding from the Nerima group."

"I know." Tsubasa said, pulling Honoka closer.

Nico groaned. "Pipe down, lovebirds. The countdown's up."

Maki pointedly turned away and started scrolling down the numbers of the winners. A-RISE was in second. "Last-minute blip. It happens," Tsubasa said. "Someone probably got lucky with an early-evening release." The list continued to scroll down, down, down. Finally in frustration, Maki hit the 'end' key. And, at rank 48, was Mu's.

Four minutes later, all ten of them were in the principal's office, their heads bowed. "In the future..." Mrs. Minami, Kotori's mother and the school's principal, told them harshly "You are to prevent the celebration noises from disrupting the sports clubs." Then she smiled. "But congratulations. The contest paperwork's already been submitted on my end."

Ranma grinned. "You know, let's skip practice today. I think we need a strategy meeting."

* * *

Back in the club room, Tsubasa was seated at the far end of the table while everyone else was sitting at the opposite end of the table. "What's with the sudden hostility?" Tsubasa asked.

"Well…" Nico said. "You're the enemy." Honoka glared at her. "Only for Love Live."

Ranma frowned, pushing Eri gently out of the way. "She's right…"

Tsubasa shook her head. "I just wanted to talk about that trick you pulled at the last concert. That was . . . "

Maki sighed, pushing her way out of the crowd. "It's...like this." She spread her hands, and the room vanished around them into a massive star field.

"Woah, nice one!" Rin said with a grin.

Tsubasa stared. "Whe-when did _this_ happen?"

"Technically, back at the beach house," Maki explained. The starfield vanished and instead Maki was holding several fireballs, which she began to juggle. "Keep it secret, okay?"

Tsubasa shrugged. "Sure. That's your edge, then?"

"Yes," Umi shrugged. "I mean, other than being strong on all the basics."

Tsubasa nodded. "Well, without being able to put it on vids, you might want to think about how else you're going to attract attention."

"Huh?" Kotori perked up. "But we're in. There's no more contests until after Christmas!"

Tsubasa waggled a finger. "Nuh-uh. This is a popularity contest as much as a performance contest."

"Wait…" Eri went pale. "Our ranking isn't being tracked? We're stuck at 48 for _four_ _months_?"

"Nope!" Tsubasa said brightly. "You're stuck at _dead last._ Same as A-RISE and everybody else who just made it."

"How is _that_ fair?!" Honoka looked like she was on the edge of hyperventilating. Umi quickly patted her back and she calmed. Slightly. "We needed that spot to keep the school's name on the web site!"

"Calm down," Surprisingly, that was Nico. "It's not _that_ bad. We're shoved to the bottom of the official rankings, but we also get a special page with the other National winners. The order everyone shows up in is shuffled when the page loads. Plus, our group ranking won't be tracked anymore, but individual songs and PVs are still sorted by the regular algorithm and we get a star showing we're a National group, so any high-ranked stuff gets automatic attention. Also, half the feature articles on the front page are guaranteed to be about National groups."

Tsubasa nodded. "So you do understand. I just wanted to be sure our rivals didn't try to relax through the next four months."

Honoka took a deep breath, then looked to Ranma. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No offense…" Ranma said. "But nothing I'm talking about with Tsubasa in the room."

Tsubasa grinned that cocky grin that was guaranteed to shut Honoka's brain off for a few seconds. "Good idea. Generally, though…"

Nico nodded. "We have to make sure we stay popular for the whole rest of the year, so people are thinking about us when it's time to cast votes for the festival."

"You got it." Tsubasa said. "I mean, it's no secret what _our_ strategy is, but that illusion didn't work out as well as you hoped. Just remember, as long as no one gets hurt anything you do is fair game. You're in the big leagues now."

* * *

After Tsubasa left, there wasn't much discussion for awhile. Not because they didn't recognize they had things that needed to be discussed, but simply because no one had thought a bit about what to do after qualifying for the final of the music festival.

Everyone finally turned their attention slowly to Ranma. She sighed. "Don't look at me, guys. The truth is, I was trying to _miss_ this one." Eight jaws dropped to the floor. "Strategic move. I wasn't sure we'd be good enough but the Nationals round took a lot of Tokyo's best off the table. I was pretty sure we could _crush_ the Regionals, and that would be better for keeping the school's name on top. But you guys pulled together better than I could ever have hoped when I was out of town."

Eri groaned. "And you couldn't share this master plan with us _why_?"

"That's not fair," Honoka said chidingly. "Besides, it's pretty obvious. He was afraid some of us would take it as an excuse to slack off."

Ranma sighed. "Yeah. I mean, not _consciously_. But it was still important everyone was giving a hundred and twenty percent. That was supposed to be the training match, so you could get where we needed to be for the Regionals…"

"...speaking of the Regionals…" Umi said, growling. "Guess who's number one on the local charts." Everyone groaned. "Why haven't they been kicked out yet?"

Kotori frowned. "Mom told me she'd take care of it…"

Maki looked pained. "It's...it's not that simple. There's no way to prove that Tendo was behind that assault." Kotori's face twisted up at that. "Just because Nabiki's out doesn't mean Ranma's fiances will face any consequences for it."

Umi's growl deepened, almost sounding feral for a moment. "It's worse than that. Nabiki's out of custody. They didn't even freaking _charge_ her."

"HOW?!" came the shout from multiple sources.

Eri shook her head. "It's not that simple. Prosecutors won't take cases that aren't ironclad. It basically wrecks their chances of advancing their careers. Without Kodachi...any signs her memory is getting better?" Maki shook her head. "There you go. The only weird thing is that Love Live didn't kick them out to avoid a scandal."

Nozomi pulled out her cards and began to shuffle them. "There isn't really a good spread for divining the present, or rather the recent past. Everyone wants to know the future." She took a deep breath. "...Kotori, cut." The blonde, hesitantly, did so. "Now you, Ranma." Once that was done, she took another breath. "I am _really_ afraid we're abusing this as it is. We'll do a two-card version of the Three Card. Past and present, but no future unless everyone agrees to be locked down."

The first card was flipped. "King of Swords, reversed. That's Nabiki, all right. Manipulation and abuse, all for personal gain. Whatever Nabiki tells herself, this card reveals the truth is pure, base greed."

"I dunno…" Ranma said. "Nabs once told me that she regards family as being real important to her…"

Nozomi sighed. "I'm sure that's what she thinks, what she says, but if it came to it, she'd toss Akane off a cliff for _enough_ money." Everyone else had an uncomfortable expression. She flipped the second card. "...the nine of pentacles, also reversed. I…" She closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead. "I…" She repeated. "The card represents delusion. That's all I'm getting."

Eri squeezed down on Nozomi's shoulder. "Rest. Don't push it."

"I think…" Ranma said. "We need to take that as a sign that that's all we're getting without knowing more. Do we want to look into it?" She shook her head. "For the moment, no. We're not in Nabs' bracket anymore. She's gonna focus on her competition for the moment. Expect potshots, but . . "

Honoka frowned. "That's the 'Ranma' answer. You're looking at this like a war."

"There _have_ been casualties, Honoka." Umi pointed out. She put a comforting hand on Kotori's shoulder. "...but I can't say you're wrong either."

Ranma nodded. "She's not." Everyone stared at her. "This is a war. But we're not the only ones fighting." Ranma grinned. "Maki, your mom's in too, yes?"

Maki blinked. "Wait, what?" Then she got it. "Oh, the lawyer. Yeah. There's not a whole lot they can do, but they're investigating and the more that turns up the more ignoring the police have to do."

"Right." Ranma clapped her hands. "So, what's our play, then?"

Nico closed her eyes. "Okay, there's basically four types of things we can do. One, we can just do what we're doing. Putting on concerts and albums. Basically, the things everyone actually thinks of as 'being idols.'" She took a deep breath. "Now, obviously, we'll do that. The real question is how we balance the other three."

"Which are?" Rin asked.

Hanayo swallowed. "Making PVs. That actually worked really well before, but it was a special case. But that - "

"Requires putting more of our lives out there," Nico confirmed. "People want to think they love us, but that requires getting to know us. There's problems with that with this group."

Eri looked disgusted. "Like me and Nozomi?"

Nico nodded. "That's a minor problem, although Nozomi's willing to do the open relationship thing - "

"I'm not." Eri didn't _quite_ snap, but it was a near thing.

Ranma frowned. "You're talkin' about...I dunno, selling a fantasy. Nics, I ain't sure we want to go down that road. The PVs are an idea, but . . . "

Nico nodded. "Yes. No offense, Ranma, but you are _contagious_ and when a pair of out lesbians are the least of our worries with selling the usual image . . . "

Honoka grinned. "Well, why not sell the truth?" All eyes turned to her. "If what people want is to feel like a part of our lives, why don't we do honest video diaries about everything?"

Nico frowned thoughtfully. "That never crossed my mind...but it _might_ work. With anything less crazy than this group you _need_ to dress it up, make it exciting and spin a story, but Honoka could fill up a novel by herself."

Umi blushed. "I dunno...I'm just. . . I don't. . . "

"Yeah." Honoka seemed to read Umi's mind. "For it to work, we'd need to be _honest._ I think there's something everyone's holding back. I mean, we _need_ that. We're together so much that giving up the privacy in our own heads is a lot to ask. . . "

Nozomi didn't look happy. "Could we get away with a rule that no one looks at anyone else's videos?"

"Until someone writes a blog or puts up their own video about it," Hanayo said. "We need to look at the comments for feedback too."

Ranma nodded. "We'll call that Plan D, then. We'll need to brainstorm other PV ideas in the meantime."

Hanayo piped up. "How about introductions? Nearly every group does those!"

"Sounds good," Ranma confirmed. "We'll set aside some time for that much in the next few days."

"Then…" Nico said. "The third method is to find groups and do collabs. As long as the groups involved are compatible and on roughly even footing, those tend to boost both participants. That's why Erena and Anju are so upset with us - until we made the Nationals, Tsubasa helping us out was hurting them. Not enough to matter, it turned out, but it could have."

"We should avoid that anyway," Ranma said after some thought. "As it is, we're risking being seen as their second-string group, not our own thing."

"But that doesn't rule out finding other Tokyo schools." Kotori said. "I know a few."

"That'll take time." Eri said. "But it's worth looking at."

Nico sighed. "And that just leaves...corporate sponsorships."

Everyone gave her a long, extremely skeptical look.

Nico waited. No one moved.

When it became clear she'd have to actually explain that, Nico shook her head. "It's not the same as real idols. But for top end groups, _like us_ , it can be an easy way to get venues to open up. You'll remember we had a real issue with that with Nabiki spreading rumors about us."

"What's the catch?" Rin asked. "If it makes something easier, that's more time to focus on, y'know, actually performing."

"Selling out." Nico, Hanayo, and Ranma told her at the exact same time. Ranma gave Hanayo a smile, encouraging her to continue, which she did. "The whole point of school idols is that we're _real_ , or at least more real than the professionals. Even if we don't get paid, putting on too many public sponsored performances can make you _look_ like a pro."

Nico continued. "Plus the contracts to do that and stay in Love Live have to be pretty strict. We're minors, after all. If we actually make money, we instantly 'go pro' and lose access to all the tools that got us this far, not to mention the contest."

Eri thought. "You said 'public performances'. That implies private ones…"

"Not like you're thinking." Nico explained. "Like...a company's had a good quarter and wants to hire some idols, but they're not a zaibatsu. Some Love Live groups do that to get money into the club's accounts for other performances."

Eri nodded. "Objection withdrawn. Especially with Ranma just offstage, no one would dare try anything."

Nico nodded. "Plus there's the potential for publicity stunts, but that kinda falls under concerts." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, that's it. Ranma?"

"I think I got all that. Let's all think about it and have another strategy meeting in a few days."

* * *

The tall apartment buildings surrounding Kanda's residential areas cast the streets into an eerie pre-sunset night that could only come from a city where the lights' timers weren't yet changed to reflect the coming season. In less than a week, the infrastructure would catch up to the reality of the sun's path.

The premature dark did not suit Ranma well at all. He was walking home with Honoka for one of their study sessions. Kotori and Umi would be along after their respective dinners, like usual, but Honoka had apparently felt like it was time to clear things up with the Kousaka family.

Honoka's mother and sister bore a strong family resemblance, with bright orange hair and blue eyes that made it clear that, without some significant differences in clothing and hair styles, they would be hard to tell apart in a few years. Fortunately, Honoka's mother, Hotaru, was still wearing her apron over business casual, from working at the sweets shop. Yukiho, on the other hand, was wearing long jean shorts and a shirt that had been knotted up, probably due to the way the shop generated an incredible amount of heat.

Ranma bowed formally upon entry. "Good evening." He said, surprising even Honoka with how formal he had managed to make it before he glanced around. "I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I see you need to keep the shop open. Honoka and I should do some studying anyway. Do you mind if we go upstairs until dinner is ready?"

Hotaru sighed. "I guess not. But keep the door open."

"You're being ridiculous about this." Honoka protested. "Ranma is _not_ my boyfriend, girlfriend, secret lover, boytoy, _girltoy_ , or really anything else."

Yukiho snorted. "Yeah, right. You're practically the - " Hotaru cut her younger daughter off with a death glare.

Honoka groaned. "Okay, look. No offense, but _that_ talk isn't one I'm having with either Yukiho _or_ Ranma around. It'd be just as weird if it was either one of them."

"Yes," Hotaru agreed. "Your behavior has not exactly been subtle, Honoka. Gay, we could understand, but. . . "

Honoka rolled her eyes. "It's called 'pan' actually. And before you say anything, there's a difference."

"What would _that_ be?" Hotaru asked hotly, apparently forgetting about the shop technically being open. Ranma seemed to sense that, because he quietly stepped outside, pulled down the sign, then locked the door without anyone seeing him.

While Ranma was busy being unnoticed, Honoka was shaking. "It _means_ that I don't care about gender. And poly, which means I just don't feel any need to limit myself to one serious relationship. And to me, it's _you people_ who are all being weird. I just don't get how everyone can be that. . . that _selfish._ " A hand landed on her shoulder, and Honoka relaxed. "Well, okay, _you_ I get," she admitted to Ranma. "Sort of."

"Yeah." Ranma grinned. "You mind if my hidebound ass gives this a try?"

Honoka shrugged, taking a step back. "You can't do any worse than I am, I guess."

Ranma coughed. "Okay, what Honkers here is _tryin'_ to say is that. . . well, it's about people. About connections. Romance, other stuff. . . that's. . . that's fun, but it's extra. Some people are like family, some like friends, and . . . well, some are friends with stuff on the side if that's what everyone wants to do. She don't mean to hurt nobody, and all her girlfriends right now know about all the other ones, and that doesn't change. If someone can't handle that, then they don't get in."

Yukiho groaned. "No one's going to understand _that_."

Honoka sniffed. "Not my problem."

Hotaru shook her head. "I'm still not hearing a good reason to let you two be alone together." Both Ranma and Honoka made a face of utter disgust. "...wait, what?"

"I just...it's... _Honoka_." Ranma said. "It'd be worse than sleeping with Ryouga. As a guy. And I'm _not_ into guys _at all._ "

Honoka nodded. "I love Ranma, but I love Umi too and I've never really wanted to sleep with her. It just. . . doesn't _feel right._ "

"You two are _so_ weird." Yukiho finally said, giving up in frustration.

Ranma smirked. "Easy way to do this. Honoka, get'er."

Honoka's eyes brightened in understanding. "Yes, Sensei!"

Yukiho's jaw dropped as Honoka opened her arms wide and proceeded to charge at her. Hotaru screamed in revulsion when Honoka easily wrapped up her younger sister in an embrace that, from the outside, looked decidedly less than sisterly, lips puckered expectantly. Then, she froze. Everybody stood still for a moment, mother and daughter in shock.

Ranma nodded to them. "It's almost exactly like that."

* * *

Umi's head hit the low table in Honoka's bedroom repeatedly. Decorated entirely in pastels, it was obviously not intended for four people, but they made it work somehow without Honoka being pointed at the TV where she'd be distracted. The table, however, did not have enough room for four sets of homework _and_ Umi's head, and Kotori had to quickly pull her history paper out of the impact zone. "Honestly, Honoka, Ranma, by all rights that method should have backfired. It still might."

"I can sleep in your dojo, right?" Honoka pointed out. "Mom and Dad will calm down." She took a deep breath. "Okay, I think I'm done."

Umi took Honoka's math, frowning. "I think you got all but this one, this one, and this one." She took a deep breath. "Keep this up and 'average' will be a thing of the past, never mind how you used to just scrape by. I can't believe we never thought to give you someone to tutor before. With anyone else, with your grades that would have been a dumb idea, but. . . "

"It's all the motivation Honoka needs," Kotori agreed. "I've still got a ways to go,"

Ranma grinned. "Well, it's almost seven and we don't have to get the math done until tomorrow night. Why don't we leave it there for now and take a break?" In response, Umi held out a hand for Ranma's own papers. Reluctantly, he handed them to her. She checked. "Well, you missed six problems, but that's because you used that physics shortcut and added _ki_ force into the equations again. Ranma, remember, the school doesn't care about what _you_ can do when it comes to word problems."

Ranma chuckled nervously. "Aheh…."

Honoka, however, had already pulled out her laptop at the word 'break'. "So, everyone know what they're going to say for the PVs tomorrow?"

Ranma said "Nothing," his trademarked smirk on his lips. "Never been more glad to not be in front of the cameras."

Kotori blushed. "I thought we were doing the third years tomorrow."

Ranma shrugged helplessly. "We're going to get through as many as possible. We need to keep moving."

Umi looked at Ranma in disbelief. "Not _everything_ is a battle, Ranma."

"Yes it is," Ranma said. "Or at least, that's a useful way of looking at everything. You should know that."

Honoka couldn't keep a fond smile off her face. "You can't win that one, Umi. The good thing is that my brother's figured out that it's not worth winning them all."


End file.
